James Berardinelli

Tomatometer-approved critic

Biography:

I was born in September 1967 in the town of New Brunswick, New Jersey (USA). I started writing when I was about 9 years old, and suffered through the traumatic experience of reading chapters from my stories in front of my entire fourth grade class. However, although my "first love" was writing, too many tales of starving authors scared me off that path, so I decided to become an engineer instead. I attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1985 through 1990, obtaining both a BS and an MS in Electrical Engineering. Putting my education to use, I went to work for a company called Bellcore, which pays well enough for me to keep up the mortgage, maintain a home theater, finance film festival trips, and buy the 25-30 gallons of gasoline I need each week to attend screenings. As for my "film history"... As a child, I did not attend many movies. In fact, the first one I remember going to was JAWS, at a drive-in. During my junior high and high school years, I rarely ventured into a theater, but my interest in movies escalated while I was at college. In 1991, the year before I started reviewing, I saw about 30 films. The number jumped up to 180 in 1992, when I wrote capsule reviews for my own use. Starting in 1993, the year I "went public" on the Usenet newsgroups, I began seeing between 220 and 250 theatrical releases per year.

Whittaker is easily the best thing about the movie. When the script fails in its attempts to flesh out Anna's character, Whittaker comes to the rescue. She can be funny, profane, dour, and heartbreaking. Oh, and quirky.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

Although there are times when the story meanders, two aspects remain strong throughout: the committed performance by lead actress Hermione Corfield and the vivid images captured by the lens of cinematographer Michelle Lawler.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

Some movies are such singular achievements that they deserve to be seen at least once by everyone who considers himself or herself to be a lover of film. Grave of the Fireflies falls into that exclusive category.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

Nihilistic in every aspect of production, Destroyer illustrates how obsession that germinates from a soil poisoned by guilt can result in a bloom devoid of an audience-satisfying catharsis. To the last, the film is true to its nature.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

On the Basis of Sex mostly avoids hero-worship in recreating the shameful truth of where the country was a half-century earlier and the importance of Ginsburg in the legal aspect of the shift that continues to this day.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

It's fair to argue that there's more truth in Cold War than in many love stories - that, although a romantic attachment isn't the best basis for a long-term relationship, its power cannot be denied or set aside.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

The move is a blast and, by using a plot device that causes a rift between different dimensions/universes, Into the Spider-Verse has been given an incredible amount of latitude in terms of characters and style.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

McQueen achieves his aim of using a genre framework to advance serious themes. That ambition, rather than the ordinariness of the central criminal enterprise, is what makes Widows an uncommonly good thriller.&dash; ReelViews - EDIT

If I wanted to be kind, I'd call Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria remake "visually striking" and "stylish." If I wanted to be brutally honest, I'd call it "tedious", "pretentious", and even "painful" (although not in a good way).&dash; ReelViews - EDIT